They tend to jave unreasonable price expectations, will not negotiate a home inspection in good faith, the property usually wont appraise because there is no listing agent involved, they wont drop the price when it doesnt appraise, they wont make lender required repairs and so on and so on.So why spend 20 hours on a transaction that is very unlikely to close?

I am choosing real estate because it offers me an opportunity to spend my time on things that I want to spend them on.

A lender gets <$400 fee spending 30 hours process your application on a 30 years loan? 

Definitely spend a lot of time reading on the BP forums.

Hi BP,I currently use Mint to track my spending and monitor my rental expenses for tax purposes.

I wouldn't spend any of that though.

Does anyone have suggestions to help me learn more about what to look for so I do my due diligence with confidence without spending $30k?

Yes, I said cost, because I'm one of those meanies who do not provide free consultations.But even if you get it for free, you would be much better off spending your time and energy on doing deals.

The best way to start is to spend 6 months reading here on BP. 

The impact of #1 is that sellers often are NOT investing (because they only have so much to spend) in the things which the market DOES want.